Padre
by 123HSMluver
Summary: Eight terrifying days, seven sleepless nights, six distraught friends, five missed rehearsals, four uncertain police officers, three worried parents, two hearts torn apart, and one very angry man.
1. Start Of Something New

Chapter One – Start Of Something New

With one last smile at her mother, Gabriella stepped out the door and hurried to where Troy was waiting close to his truck. A gentle breeze lifted the hair from her shoulders and she noted the slight chill of the night. Luckily, she'd brought a shrug to throw on over her sundress for just that reason.

Troy broke into a smile and kissed her on the cheek before opening her door. Gabriella climbed in and smiled at her boyfriend as he appeared by his own door and climbed in. It was silent for a bit as he began to drive towards East High. The two of them had a dress rehearsal for a play next week and they were both beginning to feel the butterflies.

"How was your evening?" Troy asked suddenly, as he stopped at a red light.

Gabriella smiled over at him.

"Pretty good, mom and I made supper together so that was nice. And yours?"

"Average – I played basketball and ate half of the kitchen."

Troy smiled as Gabriella laughed.

"Did you start that English homework?" she taunted.

"Um…"

Troy looked sheepishly at Gabriella. She sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Oh, Troy."

They pulled into the parking lot and walked hand-in-hand to the auditorium. A lot of the cast was already there and the two of them slipped backstage to get changed into their costumes and get into place. Once everything and everyone was in place, Ms Darbus called everyone onto stage and they began the rehearsal.

Hours later, Gabriella waved goodbye to her friends and skipped over to the backstage crew to meet Troy. They left together and stopped at a small restaurant to grab ice cream.

"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you! You don't have to pick me up for school tomorrow, my mom is working at nine, so she said that she'd drive me in. I hope that's okay…sorry about that."

Troy shrugged her apology off.

"Gabs, don't apologize! I think it's great! I know that you love spending time with your mother, and I drive you every morning. I'm sure I'll survive just _one_ morning away from you."

Gabriella snorted at his teasing expression and then became serious.

"She works so much…she's working until three this morning and then has to work again at nine. Isn't that horrible?"

Troy nodded sympathetically and rubbed her arm soothingly as she got a worried look in her eye.

"Try not to worry about it too much, Gabi. I know that she works a lot, but she doesn't seem to mind it."

Gabriella nodded.

"She's taking a few weeks off in the summer so that we can take a trip to a few places. That'll be nice."

Troy grinned and offered her his hand.

"It sounds great. Now come on, lets get you home before my curfew."

The drive was spent in a comfortable silence and Troy walked Gabriella to her door, as usual. She unlocked the door and then her brow furrowed as she realized that a flower pot had been tipped over. She righted it and stuck the spare house key back under it, like it was supposed to be.

"Must be a dog sniffing around." Troy offered. Gabriella nodded and sighed, wrapping her shrug tighter around her shoulders.

"Are you sure that it's okay tomorrow morning?" Gabriella asked, the two of them taking a seat on the bench by the front door.

"Brie! She's your mother, of _course_ it's fine. I'll just wait for you at your locker alright?"

"Okay, if you're sure."

Troy nodded and wrapped an arm around her, noticing that she was shivering a bit. She cuddled closer to him with a grateful smile and sighed.

"Do you want to come in for a bit?" She asked.

"Nah, I can't. My mom told me to come straight home to do my homework."

Gabriella laughed and tucked her legs under her on the bench.

"Hey Troy, can I ask you something?"

"Anything." He replied.

"When we first sang together at the snow lodge last year, did you ever think that it would amount to anything? Like…did you think I was interesting?"

"Well, at first I was terrified and didn't notice anything, but when you started singing…I just felt like I was _alive_ for the first time. Honestly? I thought you were beautiful and I still think that."

Gabriella smiled and nodded.

"I remember when you started to get into the song, and I kept backing away from you because you were coming towards me…"

She giggled.

"So much has changed since then."

"Yeah it has…" Troy agreed, stroking her hair absentmindedly.

"Would you do it again if you had the chance to?" She whispered.

Troy caught her gaze and was puzzled by the pleading expression on it. She blushed and pressed her cheek to his chest.

"What's this about, Brie? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it. I was just thinking about it as we were rehearsing tonight."

Troy smiled and kissed her gently, sensing that she was feeling insecure about herself right now. That happened at times and embarrassed her to the point of tears, but it never lasted long. They were interrupted by a ringtone singing from Troy's pocket.

"Sorry." He murmured, answering it with a scowl.

Gabriella just giggled and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I know, mom. I was just dropping Gabriella off and we were talking. Yes, mom, _just_ talking. Mom! Seriously…I swear I'll only be a few minutes…yes I know…no I'm _not_ in danger of failing English! Mhmm…bye."

Troy flushed as he hung up his phone. Gabriella smiled sweetly and they stood up again, realizing that it was after eleven and Troy was probably late getting home.

"I'm sorry that I got you in trouble with your mom." She whispered, touching his cheek.

"Na, she just really wants me to get my homework done. She said to say hi. She doesn't mind that we're hanging out, it's just the homework. You know that she loves you, Gabi." Troy assured her, smiling.

"You'd better get a move on, then." She prodded, poking him in the chest.

Troy pouted at her and kissed her a few times before releasing her from his hug. She opened the door and locked it behind her, waving to Troy as he drove off in his truck. Gabriella smiled and settled onto the couch, still tingling from Troy's touch.

_I'm so lucky to have him in my life._ She thought.

Gabriella was interrupted from her thought by a creak of the floorboard. She glanced up and then froze as a figure emerged from the shadows.

**AN: Okay so I'm back with a new fanfic, I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter! I know that I left you on a cliffy and I don't usually do that on the first chapter, but I needed to. I know it's been a while since I posted and I'm sorry, but this is one that I needed to plan before I actually started posting, so you can see my dilemma. Thanks for reading and feel free to let me know what you thought of it!**


	2. The Flower Pot

"What the hell is a paradox?" Troy mumbled, struggling to decipher the English homework that he still had yet to finish. The hallways of East High were getting crowded and Troy and glanced at his watch, relieved when he realized that Gabriella would be here in a few minutes. At least then she could help him with the terms that he was too frustrated to focus on right now.

After getting home from dropping Gabriella off the night before, Troy had gotten a talk from his mother about how he needed to prioritize. Troy had kept his patience and told her that he wouldn't forget about his school work, and reminded his mother (quite cheekily, in fact) that Gabriella was the reason that he was passing Chemistry. His mother had sighed with a smile and told him to go and get his work done before he fell asleep. Troy had given her a hug and had done as she said, knowing deep down that she was beyond happy about how close he had gotten to his girlfriend.

_I think Brie is probably mom's favourite out of the girls that I've dated. And I have to say that I'm definitely thinking the same way as she is._

Troy shook his hair from his eyes and glanced up as he heard footsteps approach his locker. Heart sinking, Troy nodded in acknowledgement to Chad and moved his books as he settled down onto the tiles beside Troy, his ever present basketball on his lap.

"Hey, man, do you know what a paradox is?" Troy asked, not really thinking that Chad cared about poetry or English class.

"A para-wha?" Chad repeated. "Dude, you know that I sleep through English class. Why are you asking me?"

"'Cause Gabs isn't here to ask and neither is Taylor."

Chad shrugged in agreement and then grabbed Troy's backpack, beginning to dig through it in hopes to find something to eat. Troy ignored him and focussed on his homework, jumping as his phone began to dance around the floor beside him. Troy dropped his pencil in relief and answered it before Chad could see who had called.

"Hello?"

"Troy, hi. It's Maria."

"Hey! Are you and Gabriella having a good time?"

"Well, actually, that's why I was calling…is she with you?"

"Brie? No, she told me not to pick her up for school this morning because you were going to drive her to school before work." Troy replied, his brow furrowing in confusion as a bubble of dread burst into life in his stomach.

There was a minute of silence on the other end and Troy's heart began to hammer in anticipation.

"Maria?"

"Yes, I'm still here…she's not here, I thought maybe she might have forgotten and gone to school with you. So you haven't seen her?"

"No, I'm sorry Maria. Do you want me to check around the school for you?"

"No, no, that's fine. I'll just call her cell phone."

Troy heard the tremor of fear in her voice and felt his heart skip a beat. Something was definitely not right.

"Give me a call and let me know if you hear from her, okay?"

"I will, and if you see her, tell her to call me."

"Deal. Bye, Maria."

Troy let his phone clap shut and hurriedly shoved his books into his backpack, which was still sitting by Chad's side.

"Hey, dude, what's up? I was-"

"Not now, Chad." Troy muttered, zipping his bag up in agitation. Chad immediately sensed something was wrong and he stood up, following Troy as he set off down the hallway.

"Dude?"

"Brie's not at home."

"Well I should hope not, the bell is going to ring in about five minutes."

"No, I mean, she wasn't home this morning, and I didn't go and pick her up this morning. Maria just called me to ask if I knew where she was."

Chad's eyes widened and he kept pace with Troy's long strides.

"She was supposed to ride in with her mom this morning, and Maria said that she was already gone when she got up this morning."

"It's not like Gabriella to forget things…" Chad pointed out.

"She didn't forget. Something's wrong." Troy said, his voice dangerously monotone. His eyes searched the corridors but already, Troy knew that he wouldn't find her familiar brown eyes anywhere in the building.

Troy's phone rang again and he raised it to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Her phone's off."

Maria's voice was on the edge of hysteria and Troy fought to keep his own terror under control.

"Troy, her phone's never off. Something's seriously wrong."

"I just finished searching the school, but she's not here either. Do you want me to come over? Maybe I can do something to help."

"Oh, Troy, no. You have school."

The bell rang shrilly, interrupting her statement.

"One missed day won't hurt me."

"Come over after school, Troy. I'm sure she'll be back by then. I have to get to work, anyhow."

"Okay. Hey Maria?"

"Yes Troy?"

"She's okay. We'd know it if she weren't."

Troy thought he could hear a muffled sob, but he couldn't be sure.

"Thanks, Troy. I'll call you if I find out anything."

Troy shoved his phone into his pocket and scurried down the hallway, slipping into his desk just as the final bell rang. Instinctively, he turned around towards Gabriella's desk, but it sat abandoned and lonely. Troy sighed and faced forward again, subjecting himself to a lecture about chrysanthemums and why they were relevant to the time of Romeo and Juliet.

Hours later, Troy knocked hastily on the front door, and then slipped into Gabriella's house, hope rising as he heard steps thumping down the stairs. For a moment, Troy was wholly convinced that for some reason Gabriella had ran off to the library for the day, studying for a test that she was beyond ready for, and was coming to tell him how sorry she was for ditching him today and wanted to know how his Chemistry quiz had gone. That fantasy was blown out of his head as Maria bounced down the last stair, her face twisted in worry.

"Nothing?" Troy guessed.

Maria shook her head and beat the cordless phone that she was holding against her other hand.

"I've checked everywhere, called everyone that I could possibly think of. Nothing, no one's seen her since yesterday."

"I guess I was the last one to see her." Troy murmured, running a hand over his face in fatigue. "I've been going through everything in my mind, but I can't think of anything that was out of order…"

Troy leaned against the front door and glanced out the frosted glass as he tried to recall the details about their date, what they had talked about. Nothing was relevant, but he spilled it out to Maria anyway, his cheeks flaming as he explained how his mother had interrupted their kiss. Maria didn't tease or poke fun like she normally would have, too worried about her daughter to find anything humorous.

"It was just a normal rehearsal, and a normal date afterwards…" He finished, squinting at a distorted shape outside the window.

Suddenly, he started and spun to face Maria completely.

"THE FLOWER POT!" He cried so loudly that she jumped in surprise.

"The what?" She replied breathlessly.

Troy spilled out his story to her, explaining how Gabriella had noticed that their pink flower pot had been on its side when they had returned home and she had needed to tuck the spare key back where it had belonged.

Maria paled and grabbed his shoulder to steady herself. Troy's breathing was ragged and he felt a tremor trickle through him.

"Someone broke in." She squeaked, putting two and two together.

"I'll call the police" Troy got out, reaching for his cell phone. He called 9-1-1 and explained what had happened. They agreed to send out a team to their house and Troy relayed the message to the distraught woman.

"Oh, my Gabi" Maria sobbed, depending on Troy for support. Troy felt tears gather in his eyes, but he pushed them away and swallowed the lump in his throat.

"She'll be okay. She will, Maria. You have to stay strong." He choked out, his voice hollow. "I promise that she'll be okay."

_She has to be. _He added silently. _I don't know what to do without her._

**AN: How was that? Not too bad I hope! You'll get to see things from Gabriella's eyes in the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed reading and please let me know what you thought!**


	3. Day One: Without A Trace

Gabriella blinked sleepily and felt her pulse quicken as her eyes focused on landscape sailing past her at an alarming rate. A millisecond later, she realized that she was resting against a window in a vehicle. Gabriella made sure to remain motionless, closing her eyes again, as she tried to figure out where she was. The last thing that came to her mind was laughing with Troy on the front porch after their dress rehearsal. Her fuzzy mind came fully awake as she sorted through the events of the night, trying to remember how she had managed to end up in a car. Without a second's hesitation Gabriella knew that she wasn't in Troy's truck, or in her mother's minivan.

_Where am I?_ Her mind shrieked, causing a tremor of terror to slide down her spine. Gabrielle peeked through her eyelashes but the scenery speeding past her was unfamiliar.

"You awake?"

The rough voice caused Gabriella to stiffen. Heart pounding, she opened her eyes and feigned waking up, lifting her head to glance towards where the voice had come from.

A dark-haired man sat in the drivers seat, staring ahead with a dark look. Alarm bells went off in Gabriella's head and she jumped, shying towards the window and away from the unfamiliar man. He looked over at her with a startled look and Gabriella regarded him, struggling to put a name to the face. She drew a blank and tucked her feet under her on the car seat, struggling to understand the magnitude of what had happened.

"How was your sleep?" The stranger asked, returning his burning gaze to the road.

Gabriella pressed her lips together and said nothing, watching him carefully with one eye, and searching the horizon for a road sign that would give her an idea of where she was with the other.

"Are you always this quiet?" He asked with a humorous smile.

Gabriella grit her teeth together and looked around the cabin of the vehicle for her purse. It was nowhere in sight, and she narrowed her eyes at her 'chauffer'. Uneasy butterflies gathered in her stomach and she glanced quickly behind her into the back of the car. Garbage littered the seats and her black purse was nowhere back there either.

"Where's my purse?" She asked in a tight voice, making certain to keep her growing terror out of her statement.

"In my pocket." He replied firmly, smiling still lingering on his lips. He looked over at her and caught sight of her expression. "Do you want it back?"

Gabriella nodded stiffly, and she gripped her hands together in her lap as he took one hand off of the steering wheel and dug around in the pocket of his jacket. He pulled out her bag and held it out towards her. Gabriella snatched it from his grip and keeping an eye on him, dug around in it to see if everything was still there.

She snapped her head up, eyes flashing in anger now.

"Where's my phone?"

The man laughed as if she had told a funny joke. Gabriella swallowed a sob and poured the contents of her purse onto her lap, sorting through the rest of it. Her wallet was still there, untouched she found out after going through it. The small photo of her and Troy still hung off of her keychain, and her iPod was still tucked into the small pouch. She reloaded the knick-knacks and pulled her sundress down over her kneecaps as she bit on her lip.

"You didn't think I'd let you keep your phone, did you?" He said after a minute. "You'd call your mother in a heartbeat and tell her where you were. And I want some time with you."

Gabriella just stared out the window and scanned the horizon for anything familiar. She touched the 'T' necklace latched around her neck and tried to picture herself nestled in her bed at home in an attempt to keep herself from panicking. The vision was ruined as the mysterious man pulled off of the highway and into a small town that looked as if it was still asleep. Glancing at the clock, Gabriella saw that it was just after seven in the morning.

A few minutes later, they pulled into a driveway in front of a small dark house. The man got out, but Gabriella remained motionless, trying to think of what she was supposed to do in times like this. All of her instincts told her to run, but she had no idea which direction to run in. She didn't even know how far away she was from home.

Her car door was wrenched open and the man chuckled at how she was still sitting there.

"Are you going to get out?"

Gabriella regarded him and then, watching him carefully, she undid her seatbelt and slid onto the ground, stepping to the side so that she could put some space between them. He slammed the door shut and gestured to the house.

"Come on, let's get you all settled away."

"No." She replied. "I want my phone back."

He laughed again, and the hair raised on the back of her neck as he took a step towards her.

"Oh, Gabriella, you can't go home yet – you've just got here."

Her eyes widened as he said this.

"How do you know my name?" She hissed.

Now his eyes widened and shock registered on his face. She took a step back from him as he reached out for her. She could have sworn that she saw a glimmer of hurt flitter across her face, but she wasn't sure.

"Don't you recognize me?" He inquired.

Gabriella shook her head.

"I'm your father." He said with another smile.

Gabriella froze and then began to shake as his words sunk in. Father? As in the man that her mother had divorced when she was just a baby because he had mistreated her? Gabriella hissed in warning and took rapid steps away from him, scanning the scenery around her for somewhere to hide.

"You used to call me Paddy because you couldn't say _Padre_. Do you remember that? Your mother and I used to speak Spanish to you so that you would learn the language. Do you remember me at all?"

"You mistreated my mother. Stay away from me." She growled, her voice shaking.

"That was just a misunderstanding. Come on, Gabriella, let's go inside. You must be starving. Do you want some Cheerios?"

Numb from what was unfolding in front of her, Gabriella just stood on the driveway, her flats covered in dust, and clutching her purse in her hand. The man saw that she wasn't going to move and he gripped her arm and led her inside, like she was still the ten-month year old little girl that he remembered.

Troy sat in silence on the couch, listening to the monotonous ticking of the clock on the wall. He could hear his heart pounding in his chest but it seemed as if it was coming from far away. Everything but the clock was fuzzy and Troy rested his head in his hands as he tried to stay focussed on what he was supposed to be thinking about.

_We went to rehearsal…and then…ice cream. Yes, we went for ice cream. Or was it burgers? Ice cream, or burgers? Come on, Troy, remember!_

"Troy? How are you doing?"

Troy looked up as Maria stood in the doorway of the living room. He saw the figures of the two policemen dusting around for fingerprints. Yellow caution tape surrounded the house and he saw it flickering in the corner of his eye, outside the window.

"I can't remember if we went for ice cream or burgers." Troy sighed, getting up and walking towards her. "I'm sorry."

"Oh Troy, it's fine. As long as you remember the place that the two of you were, it shouldn't matter if you ate burgers or ice cream." Maria reminded him.

Troy nodded dumbly and ran a hand over his face.

"I can't believe this. I just can't understand how…who….why someone would steal her away. Why would someone do that? She's never hurt anyone, so why is someone hurting her?"

"We don't know that someone is hurting her, Troy, just that she's gone." Maria soothed, patting his shoulder. "They haven't ruled out anything yet. They're not even sure that it's classified as a kidnapping yet, they have to finish what they're doing."

"But someone broke in…"

"It could have been theft. Gabriella being gone might not have anything to do with the break-in. It's okay, Troy, they'll figure out if they're connected, and we'll do whatever we can."

Troy nodded.

"Why don't you go on home and get some rest? Something other than the break-in might come to mind after a good-night's sleep."

"Thanks, Maria, but I'm okay. Is…would it be okay if I went up to her room?"

Maria smiled and nodded.

"They've already searched there, so you're welcome to."

Troy smiled in thanks and plodded up the stairs, his head spinning. Her room was the way he always was, clean and organized. He walked around, absentmindedly touching her desk, her lamp, her textbooks sitting on the couch. Troy's brow furrowed and he sat down beside her pile of books, thumbing through one of the textbooks as he went through the events of last night for the seemingly hundredth time. Nothing other than the flower pot was unusual to him, and Troy relaxed back into one of the couch cushions, putting the book back where it belonged as he caught sight of a photo of the two of them sitting on a table.

Picking it up, a smile touched his lips, as he remembered the perfect fall day that it had been taken on. The gang had been walking in the leaves and one of the gang members had snapped the photo of the two of them laughing at some joke that Chad had just told. It was one of his favourites. Troy sighed and traced her face in the photograph, feeling an ache in his chest. Troy shut his eyes, the image of her smiling face burned onto the inside of his eyelids, a soothing lullaby to his distraught mind.

Maria found him a half an hour later curled onto the couch fast asleep, hugging the photo of them with the touch of a smile on his face.

**AN: Alright so that's another chapter done! So we know now who took Gabriella but Troy and her mother don't. I love dramatic irony! To those of you that guessed who had taken her before this chapter, you were right! It was her father – hence the name of the story 'Padre' which is Spanish for father. I hope that I explained it well enough, but if anyone is confused or has questions, just ask them in your review and I'll get back to you! I hope you enjoyed it, and the next chapter will be up soon! Thanks for reading and feel free to review!**


	4. Day Two: The Real CSI

"Wow."

Troy looked over at the shocked expression of his best friend and nodded miserably.

"Wow." Troy echoed with a sigh.

"Dude, you're not blaming yourself are you?" Chad asked in a worried voice, studying Troy's expression with narrowed eyes.

"I should have stayed. I shouldn't have left her alone." Troy said quietly, his voice limp and defeated.

"Troy, man, you couldn't have known what was going to happen. You guys do this after every rehearsal, so why would you have done something different?"

"Because of the flower pot. It was tipped over and the key was on the ground. I should have _known_!"

Troy sighed in frustration and shrugged helplessly at Chad. Chad smiled sadly and patted him on the shoulder.

"There's nothing that you could have done. Did you tell the others?"

"No. I was hoping you would help me tell them…they're going to be hysterical. Just picture Pay, and you can see what I mean."

Chad shuddered as he pictured the pink princess stomping across the entire state until she found the creep that had taken her friend away. They both knew how protective she was of the brunette.

"Yeah, sure. You know the girls are going to cry, right?"

"I know." Troy said, grimacing. "But we need to tell them."

There was a moment of silence.

"We gotta tell Darbus too." Troy added.

"Why?" Chad asked. "The school would know already wouldn't they? They have the Amber Alert out and everything."

"For the musical." Troy clarified, his voice thick with emotion. "They're going to have to get her understudy ready."

Chad said nothing, recognizing the cold look and knowing that the subject was closed and nothing that Chad said was going to change his mind.

"Okay." He said finally, the two of them sitting in silence for a while as they waited for the rest of the gang to show up.

The patched quilt pressed to her cheek, Gabriella tried to keep her eyes open, but the shock of the last day's events had finally worn off and now, though she was lying in a strange house in a strange room, the only thing she felt like doing was sleeping. Realistically, she should be planning her escape, but her eyes were so heavy, and she was so tired…

"You didn't eat your Cheerios!"

Gabriella yelped and sat up quickly, her eyes flying open, as she looked around wildly for the speaker. Her was staring at the bowl of cereal with a disappointed expression and seemed to be oblivious of Gabriella's reaction.

"I wasn't hungry." She muttered, yawning as she tried to wake up her sleepy mind.

A glance outside the window told her that it was probably only around one in the afternoon and it had been a full day since and since she had arrived here. Gabriella knew that her mom would have called the police by now and hopefully someone would figure out who had taken her.

The man – Gabriella refused to think of him as her father – was looking down at her now and Gabriella stiffened as he sat down on the edge of the narrow bed. He didn't notice and kept on looking at her, causing her to shudder.

"What?" She asked after a moment.

"You look just like your mother." He said mumbled with a sad smile. "You're both so beautiful…"

Gabriella got up from the bed and moved around the room as she tried to think of an escape plan. There had to be someway that she could contact someone…as soon as the man was asleep she would hunt for her phone…hell, any phone would do.

"Why aren't you at work?" Gabriella asked suddenly, eager to get him out of the house so she could figure out something.

"I don't work." He said simply. "So we have all of the time in the world to spend together. Won't that be fun?"

"I want to go home." Gabriella said stubbornly. "I'm not going anywhere with you."

He just looked at her and chuckled quietly.

"Fine, we'll just wander around the house – you and I – until you go stir crazy, and _then_ we'll go out like a normal father and daughter."

"You're not my father." Gabriella spat, her fear evolving into anger. "And I'm _not_ a little girl. I won't be content to go to a zoo for a few hours licking on an ice cream. I won't be bought by any amount of bribes or TLC. I hate you for what you did to mom, and nothing – _nothing_ – that you can do or say will change that."

The man got up from the bed and regarded her for a moment longer, before leaving the room. As the door closed behind him, Gabriella stood where she was until she heard his footsteps walk away, their sound muffled by the fabric of the carpet.

Gabriella sat down on the bed again and pulled her knees up to her chest, fighting the terror that was slowly creeping its way into her mind. She knew that it wouldn't be long until it completely consumed her, and she took a deep breath, trying to focus on what she was going to do.

Hunting around the small room, Gabriella found nothing other than an old gum wrapper and a pair of jeans and t-shirt. There were phone jacks in a few places around the room, but no phone in sight.

Gabriella snuck over to the door and pressed her ear to it, listening intently for any movement. She could hear what sounded like a TV on somewhere down the hall and she carefully opened the bedroom door a crack, peeking around the edge of it until she saw that her captor was watching the game.

Silently, Gabriella slipped into the hallway and crept into the room across the hall, realizing that it was his room. Heart pounding, Gabriella saw a phone sitting on the table and dashed over to it, picking up the receiver. Dialling her home phone number quickly, Gabriella took a deep breath and waited.

SLAM.

Gabriella yelped as a large hand went down and held onto the trigger that ended and started calls. The dial tone came back on before it had even began to ring and Gabriella flinched as the man who called himself her father grabbed the receiver from her shocked hands and smashed it back onto its cradle.

"No." He said sternly, like he was scolding a puppy that had peed on the floor. "No phone calls, I told you that."

"You can't keep me here! They're going to find out who took me and then you'll be put in prison." Gabriella protested, struggling to talk some sense into him. "Then you'll never see me ever again!"

"If I let you go, I'll never see you again anyway." He replied coolly. "So I might as well keep you with me until your mother figures it out. That reminds me…the other night I heard you on the porch before you came inside. Who was that boy?"

Gabriella pressed her lips together and fought the urge to grasp her necklace in her hand like she normally did when she thought of Troy.

"Like I'm going to tell you." She snarled.

"I'll get it from you, eventually, Gabriella. You'll start to get used to me after you've been here for a month."

Gabriella's breath caught in her throat. A month? She had the school musical in a little over a week, there was no way she could miss that! She and Troy had been rehearsing for it like mad!

"I can't be here for a month, I have a commitment!"

"I'm sure it can wait…what is it…some date with this mystery boy?"

Gabriella ignored the question.

"I have school. And exams to prepare for. And I have a musical that I'm part of, I need to get back."

"A musical? Huh, that's sweet. Sing something for me." He said, cocking his head to the side.

"I can't miss it." Gabriella hissed.

"I thought that's what understudies were for?"

He left the room without a glance at her, and Gabriella knew that escape was her only option. She walked back to her room and shut the door, pressing the desk chair up to it to bar her father out.

_Darbus is going to kill me…_

She sat cross legged onto her bed and felt a tear slip down her face, followed by another. The day was just beginning, but Gabriella already felt like going to bed, wanting more than anything to wake up and find herself back in her own bed with this bad nightmare gone from her mind. If only.

Three blank faces stared at Troy as he finished his tale. Chad has his arm around a sobbing Taylor and Ryan was edging away from his twin as her manicured hands tightened into fists. The bell for the end of lunch was due to go in a few minutes, but none of them had touched their lunches, even Chad.

"Do they have any idea?" Ryan asked, his voice weak. "Any idea at all who took her?"

"None. They haven't found any other fingerprints other than Brie's on the key, because she picked it up when I drove her home. They're not sure where to go, but they told us to keep asking around to see if anyone's seen her. I'm putting up posters later on today, but that's all that we can do until someone speaks up."

"Posters? When and where?" Taylor asked, drying her eyes.

"I was thinking downtown…maybe after supper?"

"We'll be there." Chad replied, answering for all of them.

"Pay? Are you okay?" Ryan asked.

"I. Am. Going. To. Kill. Them." Sharpay hissed, her dark eyes flashing in anger. "No one has the right to take that girl away from her friends and family. And it's right before the musical!"

"She must be so scared…" Taylor added.

Troy winced as he pictured her curled up in a corner, bound to a chair. He had no idea if it was actually a random kidnapping or if it was violent, but CSI marathons had him thinking the worst.

"I know." Troy whispered, his heart heavy in his chest. "I know."

**AN: Aww, poor Troy. He's just so lonely. But besides that, how did you guys like that chapter? I hope it was okay – I know it was kind of dull, but you know how it is – gotta have some downtime at some point, right? So the next chapter will be a bit more exciting, but the real action won't happen for a bit. I hope you'll stick with me, because it'll be worth it when the excitement gets there! Trust me! Thanks for reading guys, and review! **


	5. Day Three: Theatre For Dummies

Gabriella stared out her window, her mind floating from memory to memory of her father. The only image that she had of him, was a blurry photograph that she had found hidden in her mother's jewellery box. The photograph was old, Gabriella knew that even when she had found the photograph, but now that she was here in _person_ with the man himself, she realized just now long ago that photo had been taken.

In the photograph, he had been smiling broadly, laughter and happiness evident in his eyes, his arms had been spread wide as he stood in front of a brick wall. Gabriella remembered staring at the photo for ages, asking silent questions to the mystery man that she couldn't remember. She remembered how she used to get so confused – why had this smiling man left her without a father? How come he hadn't called on her birthday or come and seen her in a gymnastics recital?

Then, as she had gotten older, Gabriella began to understand what had really happened – why her mother seemed reluctant to talk about him, or talk about anything to do with Gabriella's childhood at all. It was obvious that it was hard for her mother to talk about happier times without missing them. Gabriella had never gotten the full story out of her mother about what had happened, but she had understood her mother's dejected expression and the tightness of her voice enough to know that her father had hurt her mother in some way. And as a result, Gabriella had learned to hate him for it.

Gabriella took a coin out of her purse and began to scratch a line on the bedroom wall. She focussed on it intently, making sure that it was straight and close enough to the other two ticks to be comprehensible. When she had finished, Gabriella stepped back and admired her handiwork.

Three lines stood next to each other, each of them representing a full day that she had been here. It had been three days now. Three long days that she had spent pacing around the small room, trying to escape the grip of her father. Each time, she had failed and Gabriella woke up this morning after a nightmare-filled sleep and knew that she needed to change her tactic. If she was ever going to get out of her, she needed to win him over onto her side and then use it against him.

Her mind alert and focussed with the severity of the new idea, Gabriella settled onto her bed and sorted through the events of the past days. Her father had come in countless times, trying to coax her out to watch the game with him, or help him make supper. Each time she had refused, her voice chilly. He had just shrugged and closed the door behind him. She had left her room only to use the bathroom and try to use the phone again (which he had removed from his room). Gabriella knew that if she wanted her plan to work, she was going to have to use all of her available acting ability and learn to trust herself with it.

Gabriella darted out of her room and into the bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror. She still wore the sundress and it was wrinkled beyond recognition. Her curly lay limp from lack of care and Gabriella frowned at her reflection. Ms Darbus always told the cast that in able to act the part, you needed to look the part. Gabriella certainly did _not_ look like an innocent daughter that wanted to apologize to her father, and with that thought in her mind, she dipped her head down into the sink and had gave it a rinse. She found shampoo in the shower and rubbed it through her hair, trying to get herself into character.

Once her hair was washed, Gabriella washed her face and attempted to smooth out the wrinkles on her dress. Feeling a bit more like herself, Gabriella ran a hand through her damp hair and exited the bathroom, running to her room to grab her purse.

Gabriella knew from the creak of the floorboards that her father was in the kitchen and she took a deep breath, striding down the hall in a confident but shy way – like she normally would. She turned the corner to the kitchen and leaned against the archway, crossing her arms over her chest in sudden nerves.

A touch of anger flickered in her as he looked up and smiled at her, but she pushed it away stubbornly and managed a tight smile back. She sat down at the table and watched him fix himself some breakfast.

"Do you want some help?" She asked after a moment.

He looked over at her surprise and she bit her lip, wondering for a moment if he saw through her. But he just smiled and shook his head.

"I'm fine. I think I can manage the toaster. Would you like something to eat?"

"Whatever you're having." Gabriella replied, her heart fluttering in her chest.

_So far, so good._ She thought with a small smile. _Troy would be proud._

The mere thought of Troy made her flinch and she ducked her head, composing herself again. Gabriella carefully and painfully locked Troy out of her mind and made herself promise not to think of him again – she couldn't if she wanted to pull this off.

A plate of toast appeared on the table and she looked up again, smiling in thanks at her father. He smiled back and settled down from her with his own toast, watching her carefully.

"You look nice." He commented.

"I used your sink to wash my hair, I hope you don't mind."

"Go ahead, Gabriella. But you can use the shower if you'd like…"

Gabriella forced herself to blush and she smiled shyly.

"I didn't think of that." She whispered, hiding her shaking hands in her lap.

Now came the hard part.

"Hey Dad?" She asked quietly, proud when her voice didn't shake when she said 'Dad'.

"Yes Gabriella?" He replied, obviously pleased that she had acknowledged him.

"I was wondering if maybe you would still like to spend time together outside of the house? I know I was really rude about your offer earlier, and I apologize - I was just really scared and I didn't know what to do. I was wondering if…maybe we could go shopping? I-I have nothing else to wear and I don't want to look like this the whole time I'm here. I'm sorry if I'm being rude again, I really don't mean to."

Gabriella let out a breath of air and waited as he considered her offer. He looked curiously at her and she made herself blush again. She hesitantly took a bite out of her toast and with some difficulty swallowed the dry mouthful.

"This is really good, Dad." She whispered, hoping to get a response out of him.

He smiled at that comment and finished off his piece of toast while she sat waiting patiently.

"I'm not much of a shopping guy myself, and I don't have much money." He said finally, resting his chin on his hand.

Gabriella swallowed her disappointment and nodded, trying another way to persuade him.

"Well, I have money. I have my card…but I don't want to be a burden or anything, it was just an idea. I'm sorry that I asked. Forget I mentioned it."

He smiled and sat back in his chair, regarding her calmly.

"Do you like shopping?" He asked quietly.

Gabriella giggled and nodded.

"Yes, of course. I _am_ a girl after all."

He laughed and got to his feet, taking both of their empty plates to the sink. Immediately, Gabriella got up to help him, drying the two plates as he washed them. He smiled in thanks and she smiled back, her heart fluttering in nerves.

"Well, I guess we can go for a little bit. As long as you use your own card. I'm afraid that I live from pay check to pay check."

Gabriella nodded.

"Of course, thanks Dad. I promise I won't be too long."

"Grab your purse, lets go now."

"Okay, I'll be right back."

Gabriella hurried to her room and snatched her bag off of the bed, rolling her shoulders back to keep herself calm.

"I can do this." She breathed. "I can do this."

Troy sat with the phone in his hand, trying with no success to watch the basketball game on TV. Usually, nothing could pull his attention from any sport that was on the television, but today the roars of the crowd and the animated voice of the reporter went right over his numb head.

"Have you heard anything yet?"

Troy raised his eyes from the screen to shake his head at his mother who was standing in the doorway.

"No, not yet. Maria said that she'd call me once the police left her house. I called a few hours ago and she said that they were going around the neighbourhood and asking around to see if anyone noticed anything out of the ordinary."

"Have you gotten any hits on the flyers you put up yesterday?" she asked, sitting on the couch beside him.

"Not yet." Troy sighed.

She patted his knee and Troy offered a small sad smile.

"I'm going to go on over later on and keep Maria company. You should come over too, Mom."

"I just might." She said quietly.

It was quiet for a few seconds as they both absentmindedly watched the final seconds of the basketball game.

"I'll go make a batch of cookies to bring on over with me." The older woman decided suddenly, getting up and walking quickly into the kitchen.

Troy sat by himself on the couch, fighting back sudden tears of loneliness. The screen blurred before him and he tightened his hands into fists as his emotions sailed all over the place, his loneliness turning into anger. He stood up abruptly and strode into the kitchen after his mom.

"Mom, would you like some help with the cookies?"

"The bottom line of it is that no one can remember seeing anything out of the ordinary around the time of the kidnapping. Although, it was a little late at night, and it's harder for people to notice things when it's dark out."

Troy, Maria, and Troy's mother sat on the couch and listened to the ending of the police officer's report.

"And there is a partial print on the flower pot that isn't Miss Montez's so we are running that through our systems now, but there are no hits just yet."

A glimmer of hope appeared in Maria's eyes and Troy perked up just a bit.

"What happens if there is no match?" Troy asked.

"Then, unfortunately, there's nothing that we can do. We will only be able to match it if the culprit has a criminal record. Unless of course, someone has willingly given their fingerprints to the government. For example, parents often register their children when they're little so that they can use the information later on in life if something happens. The best thing about it is that fingerprints are the most reliable evidence that we can get other than DNA because it never changes, even if you give yourself a whole new identity."

"Do you know…is there a chance that Gabi…were there any signs of a struggle?" Maria asked with some difficulty.

The police officer smiled at her and shook his head.

"None. We've confirmed that the kidnapper did get through the door using the spare key. Nothing is out of place anywhere in the house that we're aware of, although we were called in a little late, and for the moment we're thinking that Gabriella might have known her kidnapper."

Troy's brow furrowed.

"Known her kidnapper? What do you mean?"

Images of the petite girl talking in hushed tones to big dark-clothed thugs flashed through Troy's sleep deprived mind and he frowned as he studied the police officer in front of him in frustration. This man obviously didn't know how to read people, Gabriella would never socialize with those kind of people, they gave her the creeps.

"I mean that if this person was hiding in the house, she might not have found it out of the ordinary to see them there. And if she knew this person she might have gotten into a car with them willingly, which looks to be the way it is. There is always the possibility that her kidnapper might have taken her while she was asleep, it's hard to say at this point."

"Oh." Troy muttered, feeling stupid for even thinking what he had been thinking. He obviously needed sleep, but his mind wouldn't slow down enough for him to even close his eyes for longer than a minute.

"Do any of your have an idea of who Gabriella would be trustful of if they were in the house?" The police officer asked, pulling out a notepad and a pen.

"Well, I live here, so she wouldn't be surprised to see me here." Maria said slowly, "But I was at work until the early hours of the morning, the computer has the times that I clocked in and out if you'd like to check."

"I'll have to. It's nothing personal, Ms. Montez, I'm just doing my job." He said with an apologetic smile.

"Of course." She replied with a nod. "I understand. Do whatever you need to do to get my Ella back."

Troy's heart pounded in his chest as he took a deep breath and said what he knew that he needed to say.

"I come over all of the time, so she wouldn't be surprised to see me here either. But I was with her the night that she was taken."

"And what is your relationship to Miss Montez?" The officer asked, his voice slipping into the formal tone that made Troy feel like he was being interrogated.

"She's my girlfriend." Troy said simply.

"For how long?"

"A little short of a year, now."

"Have there been any problems?"

"We've hit a few snags, but nothing big…why? You don't think I did something to her, do you?"

"I'm just doing my job, I need to ask these questions." the officer said in a patient voice.

Troy let his head fall into his hands for a second and relaxed slightly as he felt his mother patting him on the back. He raised his head again.

"You're right, I'm sorry." He apologized.

"That's quite alright, I know this is a hard time for all of you."

The officer looked at each of them in turn with a sympathetic smile that told Troy he really _did_ care about what happened to Gabriella, it wasn't just a job that he forgot about when he went home to his own family. Any resentment that Troy felt towards him for asking the probing questions melted away and he smiled back.

"And what were the two of you doing the night she disappeared?"

"We went to a rehearsal for our school musical. I picked her up at six thirty and the rehearsal went from seven o clock to nine o clock. Went out for ice cream…or burgers - I'm sorry I can't remember what we ate."

The officer smiled at this and continued scribbling down what Troy was telling him.

"That's fine, it's not important. Do you have the address of the restaurant that you were at?"

Troy reeled off the information and then paused as he tried to remember how long they had sat there talking for.

"I think we might have been there for an hour but I'm not entirely sure."

"That's fine, we'll be able to tell by watching the security tapes. Did you go straight home afterwards?"

"Well after we ate, I dropped her off at her house. We were talking outside on the porch for a bit and that's when she noticed the flower pot. Then my mom called," Troy gestured to his mother beside him with a small smile, "And told me to come home and do my homework, so I left a few minutes afterwards. She got in alright, I always make sure that she does before I leave."

"Do you know what time your mother called?"

Troy whipped out his phone and scrolled through the log of received calls.

"She called me at quarter after ten and it says that it lasted for one minute. I think I might have left about five minutes later…"

"Did you go straight home afterwards?"

Troy nodded.

"He got home around ten thirty." His mother confirmed, patting his knee. "And he was in my sight from then until he went to bed around eleven."

The police officer nodded and wrote for a few seconds longer and then looked up with a smile.

"That's great, thank you for your help. We'll confirm your stories with the security tapes from the diner and then school, and go from there."

The police officer took out three business cards and handed them out.

"In case you think of anything else that might be useful."

Troy held the printed card in front of him and sighed as his tired mind acknowledged the words _'Special Agent'_. Troy shuddered as the reality of it hit home and his mother rubbed his back again, sensing his uneasiness.

"We'll find her." Troy found himself saying suddenly. The other adults nodded with small smiles that seemed a little fake to him. "We will." He repeated, although whether he was convincing them or himself, he didn't know.

**AN: And the tension builds! Gabriella is playing nice and Troy is starting to cooperate with the police, how is sounding to you guys? Does it seem fake or is it realistic? Let me know please, I would like to know how I'm doing. Thanks for reading and please review!**


	6. Day Four: Just Me and You

**AN: Super sorry that it's taken me so long to update! I have them written already, I just forget to upload them! Sorry about that, but I hope you enjoy it none-the-less!**

Troy walked into the driveway of Gabriella's house, nerves fluttering in his stomach. Maria had called him earlier that morning and told him that the police officer had reviewed the security tapes and had a few more questions for him. Troy had asked Maria if he seemed angry, like he thought Troy was lying, but Maria wasn't sure. He had called the gang and told them, and promised to text them when he found out what the news was.

He knocked on the door and then shoved his hands in his pockets as he heard footsteps walking towards the door. The door swung open and Troy immediately started asking questions that had been circulating in his head since the phone call.

"What's wrong? Is she okay? Did you find out who took her? Where is she? Am I in trouble? Should I tell the gang?"

"Troy, Troy, calm down. It's okay. Nothing is wrong, he just has some more information for us and a few more questions for you. Come on in."

Maria smiled reassuringly and stepped aside so that he could get in the house. For a moment, Troy hesitated on the doorstep and then gathered his nerves together and stepped into the house.

The two of them walked into the living room where the police officer from yesterday was sitting on a chair, sipping a cup of coffee. He looked up as they entered.

"Troy, hi. I realize that I never introduced myself to you yesterday. I'm Brian."

"Hi Brian." Troy said with a friendly smile.

"As I was telling Ms Montez before you came, thanks to the information that you gave me yesterday, I was able to confirm your alibi-"

Troy gulped at the seriousness of the word _alibi_, suddenly feeling as if he had stepped into his favourite crime show. In a way, he guessed that he had.

"-the night that Gabriella was taken and thanks to the security cameras at the Diner, we were able to catch sight of a possible suspect."

Troy's mouth fell open but nothing came out of it. Maria sat forward from where they were settled on the couch again and clasped her hands together.

"Were you able to tell who it was?"

Brian sighed and pulled a blurry photograph from his bag, putting it on the coffee table so that Troy and Maria could see it.

"Sort of. As you can see, the security camera wasn't the best quality and it was dark. This is you and Miss Montez here-"

Brian pointed to a blob on the picture and Troy squinted at it, making out a very bad quality version of his truck pulling out from the parking lot of the Diner.

"-And this is who we suspect might be the person that took her."

Brian pointed to another blob, a red car from the looks of it. He studied the picture closely for a long moment, but he couldn't see the face of the driver good enough to be able to identify them.

"I can't tell who it is." Troy sighed, handing the photo to Maria.

Brian laughed and shook his head.

"I wouldn't expect you to, I had our graphic artists clean up the photo a bit. It's still a bit blurry, but this should be a bit better."

Brian handed them another photo and again, Troy and Maria leaned over it, nervous as they looked upon the face of Gabriella's possible kidnapper. Troy only had to look at the photograph for a second before he burst out into laughter and shook his head.

"No, definitely not."

Brian looked at him in surprise.

"I'm sorry?"

"This is not Gabi's kidnapper."

"How can you be sure?" Brian asked.

"This is another kid from Drama, he was at the rehearsal. He's a not-so-secret admirer of Gabriella."

"Admirer?" Maria said, obviously puzzled. "Ella didn't mention anything about him to me."

"She was embarrassed because he liked to follow us around the school and try to get up the nerve to talk to her. He wasn't aggressive or anything, he was harmless, really."

Brian pulled out a notebook and poised his pencil.

"Even still, we're going to have to check it out. What is his name?"

"Damien Chancy. He's in Grade Ten. I understand that you're doing your job, but he's not a threat."

"How do you know that this Damien didn't hire someone to kidnap Gabriella for him? If he admired her, then he obviously wouldn't have been fond of you if you were in his way to getting to her."

For a moment, Troy couldn't breathe. But he caught his breath and shook his head firmly.

"I'm sure that he wouldn't. He was a basketball player and I'm the captain of the team. I worked with him a lot during the past few months and sometimes Brie - I mean Gabriella - would come to the practices and that's how he met her. He wasn't mean to me or obsessed with her. He wasn't at stalker level, he just liked her and thought that she was cute."

_Flashback_

"_Almost there, Damien, keep your eyes on the net and let your legs do all of the hard work." Troy called out to the younger boy, standing a ways back as Damien lined up and crouched as he tossed the basketball. It swished through the net and Damien pumped his fist in the air._

"_Hey man, good job!" Troy congratulated. "Let's call that the last shot for today, I'm starving. Shower up."_

_Damien smiled at Troy and then began to blush as he looked off to the right of Troy. He nodded and mumbled something that sounded like 'see you in there' and then darted into the boy's changing room without a backward glance._

"_You know, I'm starting to think that I shouldn't let you in here…" Troy said over his shoulder, turning to walk towards the bleachers. "You keep scaring off all of my players."_

_Gabriella giggled and got up to meet him._

"_It's not my fault! I wasn't even looking at him, and he got all embarrassed." She defended, her eyes twinkling. "Honestly, Troy." _

_Troy grabbed her into a hug and kissed her._

"_I know." He said quietly. "I think he must have a crush on you, Brie! He only ever gets like that when you come in."_

"_Well that's just too bad for him." Gabriella replied, sliding her arms around his neck with a smile. "I'm already taken."_

"_That you are." Troy laughed, kissing her again._

_End Of Flashback_

"Are you sure, Troy?" Maria asked, her eyes confused. "It's not like Gabriella to keep things from me."

"I'm sure, Maria. If I thought he was a threat to anyone, I'd say so. He was too shy and bashful to ever get the nerve to talk to her, let alone tell anyone that he liked her. He really is harmless. I'm sure that the only reason Gabriella didn't say anything was because she was embarrassed. You know how she is, embarrassed at any kind of attention."

Maria nodded.

"That makes sense I guess."

Brian sat there for another moment and then nodded to the two of them.

"Alright, I'll do a follow up on him, just take a look at his record and confirm what you're telling me. Is there anything else that came to mind after we talked yesterday."

"Just that I miss her." Troy said, before he realized it. "I hate not knowing if she's hurt or not."

"We'll find her, Troy, I'll work around the clock until we do." Brian promised. "I've never failed at my job and I don't intend to start now."

Gabriella dropped another eggshell into the garbage and turned up the radio as she began to stir the cake mixture. Her father glanced up from where he sat reading the paper and then set it aside as he watched her pour the cake mix into two pans with practiced ease.

"Are you sure that you don't want some help? I feel guilty watching you cook while I'm just sitting here and reading the paper."

_Then let me go and stop feeling guilty._ Gabriella wanted to say. But she didn't.

"I'm sure, Dad. Besides, you told me yesterday that it was your birthday tomorrow and everyone deserves a cake on their birthday."

She forced a smile at him.

"Okay, if you're sure. I'm sorry that you couldn't find anything other than pyjamas yesterday. I didn't know that Irving only sold traveling clothes."

Gabriella laughed.

"Oh, Dad, I could have told you that."

She pushed the pans into the oven and then settled onto a chair across from him. The shopping trip had lasted only a mere half an hour in a tiny Irving store that was a few minutes from his house. Any hopes of Gabriella getting someone to recognize her or see a missing poster with her face on it flew out the window and she had bought the pyjama pants with her debit card hoping that her mother would check Gabriella's banking account and see the activity and then hopefully the police department would be able to figure out the location of where it had been used. So far, Gabriella hadn't seen a single police car but still, she hoped.

"Is there anything that you would like to do tomorrow?" She asked.

"Yes, actually. How would you feel about going to the aquarium? I know that you liked that when you were little."

"That sounds perfect." Gabriella said, meaning it.

_Someone will definitely notice me there. And hopefully I'll be able to find a payphone and call Mom or the police department._

"I'm afraid it's not as spectacular as the ones that we used to go to, but it's pretty cute. And it has a gift shop, so maybe we can look around there for a bit?"

It was obvious to Gabriella that he was desperately trying to be friends with her. All she had to do was keep playing her game and hopefully something would work out.

"Sure, I haven't gotten you your present yet, so we'll find something there. Maybe we can even go out for supper…my treat?"

Her father laughed and nodded, reaching over to pat her hand. Gabriella bit her tongue to keep from pulling her hand back and gave a tight smile.

"It sounds like a plan." He agreed. "Just me and you."

"Yeah." Gabriella replied with a sad smile. "Just me and you."

"I can't believe that I didn't think of this before!" Maria cried, clasping her hands together in her lap as she sat between Troy and his mother.

"Maria, it's perfectly alright. He's been out of your life since she was a baby. I can understand that he wouldn't be your first thought." Troy's mother soothed.

Troy sat with clenched teeth, keeping an eye on the driveway as he waited for Brian to get here.

"If he has her…" Maria trailed off, choking on a sob. "He used to be so cruel to me. I wish I could say that he would treat his own daughter better than he treated me, but I honestly don't know. I don't even know where he's staying. Do you think he might have even changed his name? I just…"

Troy tuned out Maria's voice as the shock settled into him. Maria had appeared on their doorstep, hysterical as she came up with the idea that somehow Gabriella's father had found them even after their many moves to prevent it, and now had taken Gabriella as revenge for Maria's cold shoulder on their custody agreement.

He sent up a long, desperate prayer, trying to keep calm.

_Keep her safe, please._ He finished. _If not for me, then for her mother. Please._

**AN: Dun dun dunnnn. Okay, so they're starting to get on the right track now! I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter and thanks so much for staying with me throughout all of this waiting! Read and review please! Next chapter will be up soon, I promise!**


	7. Day Five: Birthday Wishes

Gabriella let out a fit of hysterical laughter and tried to look as if she were enjoying herself. She stood in front of a large pane of glass, looking at the tropical coloured fish that swam back and forth. Normally, Gabriella would have loved the display and she tried without much success to pretend as if she were here with Troy or her mother. Unfortunately, had she been here with Troy, he would be directly beside her, laughing as a bright red fish and pulling her close to him, not snapping a photo of her with an ancient looking camera.

"Another good one for the scrapbooks." Her father said with a smile, tucking the camera into it's case again. Gabriella nodded and then turned toward the next display, trying to hide her disgust. The fish that normally would have held her attention for hours on end, now fluttered past her blind eyes as she used all of her acting ability to keep herself in character.

The two of them had been at the aquarium for an hour now, and still Gabriella had yet to see a pay phone. Still, she kept her hopes up and made sure that she kept an eye out for any type of police officer or poster with her face on it. Frustration was making her blood boil and more than once, Gabriella had to pretend to be captivated by the fish while she got her temper under control.

Closing her eyes for a moment, Gabriella rested her head against the cool pane of glass and tried to hold back tears of anger and frustration. A few slipped out the corner of her eyes and she quickly wiped them away before her father noticed. Unfortunately, he chose that moment to look over at her, and saw her swiping at her cheeks.

"What's wrong, Gabriella?" He asked, her brow furrowing in concern.

Gabriella offered a tight smile and shook her head.

"Nothing, I'm fine."

"Do you miss your mother?" He asked quietly.

"No." Gabriella assured him, lying through her teeth. "I really am happy to be here with you. I love my mom, but I didn't realize how cool you are to be with."

The older man broke out into a wide smile and wrapped an arm around her tiny shoulders. Gabriella resisted the urge to push him away from her and smiled instead.

"Thank you. But why are crying?"

Gabriella grit her teeth together and scrambled through her mind for some sort of excuse. There were a few other people in the vicinity and it made it hard for her to distract his attention. She didn't know what to say.

"I-I guess I'm just tired." She finally replied, her voice weak and lifeless. "Do you mind if we skip this part and just go out for supper?"

"Of course. Did you sleep alright?"

They began to walk towards the exit and the older man held the door for her. Gabriella slipped past him and immediately was on the lookout for anything that she could use to help someone - anyone - find her and take her home. She was so busy trying to find a phone that she jumped when her father spoke to her again.

"Would you still like to go into the Gift shop?"

"That'd be great, if that's okay. If is _your_ birthday after all."

"That's fine, Gabriella."

The bell on the door tinkled as they entered and Gabriella was lost in a crowd of teenage girls, who were shopping for various trinkets.

_Perfect. _She thought with an elated jolt going through her, _I might be able to get away from him now and go to the police._

She began to weave through the girls, feigning interest in the shelves decorated in brightly coloured key chains, and fish shaped plushies. She was halfway across the store when her father's voice sounded from a few metres away.

"Don't go too far, Gabriella."

The words were like those of a concerned father for his daughter, and that may have been the way that he had meant them, but Gabriella heard the silent threat in his voice;

_You can't get away from me, there's no use trying._

She gulped and picked up a random necklace, inspecting it as she felt the piercing eyes of the evil man which held her captive. Gabriella smiled at the pendant like she thought it was pretty, and refused to meet his gaze. Quickly, she picked out a card with a monkey on it for her father and a keychain stating the words 'Someone who loves you very much bought this keychain for me at the Austre Aquarium'. She thought that it might help in carrying across her act.

She quickly paid for her purchases - with her bank card - and then blinked in surprise as she caught sight of a large state map on the wall. The shape was familiar to her, and without making it look as if she was studying it carefully, she found the star that marked where they were on the map.

A bubble of hope curst into life in her heart as she saw how close it was to Albuquerque. She had been only a few hours drive away from home all the time! Immediately, she began to plot. She'd need to ask her father a few questions to get anywhere.

An hour later, they sat in a secluded booth at the back of a fancy restaurant. Pulling her grimy sundress over her knees, Gabriella put her plan into action as they waited for the waitress to come back with their food.

"Hey Dad?" she asked.

"Yes, my daughter?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course, Gabriella."

She smiled slowly and looked intently at the straw in her drink.

"I-I was wondering if you could tell me how you got me in the car the night that you drove me here."

His expression darkened and he became suspicious. Gabriella hurriedly added;

"I'm only asking because I don't remember anything, and I know that I would have been scared of you at first because I don't remember you from when I was little. Was I asleep?"

Her father was silent for so long that Gabriella thought that he wasn't going to answer her. She took a sip of her lemon-water and slid her hand across the table to cover his clenched fist, forcing herself not to grimace.

"I'm sorry, Paddy." She whispered, trying the old nickname in hopes that it would loosen him up a little bit. "I guess I shouldn't have asked."

It worked. He smiled at her and Gabriella was surprised to see tears in his eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"I-I'm afraid that if I tell you, you won't want to be around me any longer." He said.

Gabriella's heart pounded in her chest as she spit out a lie.

"That's not going to happen. I-I think that you're amazing."

He was quiet for a moment longer and then answered slowly and quietly.

"I-I gave you something to drink - you were in shock and you didn't recognize me yet. I knew that as soon as you did, you'd panic and not give me time to explain. Before you came home I broke into the house - there was a key under the flower pot - and put some powder into the water that I gave you."

"It knocked me out?" Gabriella offered. "That makes sense." Again, she forced out another lie, her mind reeling. "I don't blame you, Dad. And I'm not angry. I know that I was really cruel at first towards you, and I'm so sorry. I was just really scared. Thank you for not getting angry with me."

"You're my daughter, Gabriella, of course I'm not going to get angry with you!"

It was quiet until after the supper was over. Then, as Gabriella had previously set up, the waitress brought out a cake with a few dimly lit candles and mumbled a birthday song to him. Her father beamed at Gabriella and blew out half of the candles.

"You blow out the other half, Gabriella. Go ahead, make a wish."

Gabriella moistened her lips and squeezed her eyes shut, wishing with all her might as she blew out the candles left burning.

_I wish to go home and for this nightmare to end._

"…I divorced him when she was so young, that I know she wouldn't remember him. I never thought to warn her."

"Okay, thank you for the information. We searched your ex-husband in our data bases last night after you told us the information, but we were unable to find his name is our registry. Is it possible that he could have changed his name?" Brian asked, smiling sympathetically at Maria.

"I-I guess it's possible." Maria replied. She turned to Troy who looked helplessly back at her. "Did she ever mention him to you, Troy? Did she ever talk about him?"

Troy shook his head, dejectedly.

"No, never."

"We'll keep looking, Ms Montez until we find her. The information that you gave us will help a great deal."

Troy patted Maria on the shoulder as she broke down into tears again. Brian closed his notebook and left the house quietly after excusing himself.

"Oh Troy, this is such a mess." She sighed, looking at him sadly. "I should have said no to him."

"Did he ask to see Gabriella?" Troy asked, his heart aching a little bit.

"We agreed that he would be able to see her only after she had turned eighteen and was old enough to decide for herself whether she wanted to or not. She turned eighteen and I asked her about it, but she said no right away and refused to talk any more about it so I never contacted him about it. Do you think that she could have run off to find him after all? Maybe she just didn't want to tell me?"

"I don't think so, Maria. She would have at least mentioned it to one of us. She's been acting completely normal. I think he must have come and get her himself. I just don't understand why she went with him so easily."

"How are you holding up with all of this, Troy? I keep forgetting how close the two of you are…I'm just so scared for her."

"She means the world to me and I don't blame you for forgetting, she _is_ you daughter. I'm just her boyfriend. And I'm holding up okay - I have my moments when it gets overwhelming." Troy answered honestly, although at that moment he felt like sobbing his heart out.

"You're not just her boyfriend, Troy, she thinks the world of you. If you ever need anything, you just let me know okay? Anything at all, I'm here for you."

"Back at 'cha." Troy replied with a smile.

Soon afterwards, Troy walked home in the growing dusk with his hands in his pockets and silent tears rolling down his cheeks.

**AN: Anther one done! I hope you all enjoyed it! Thanks so much for staying with me through all of this nonsense! R&R Please, and see you soon with the next update! You all ROCK! `**


	8. Day Six: Stay Strong

**AN: Yeah, so I suck. I'm SO sorry that I haven't updated, but I participated in NaNoWriMo this year (it's a competition where you write 50 000 words in a month) and so I was busy all November with that. Anyways, I hope this chapter was worth the wait! **

Day Six: Stay Strong

Troy plodded down the steps to the cafeteria and settled onto the plastic stool with a heavy sigh. Taylor looked up from her Chemistry homework and patted him on the arm, understanding his expression as nothing had changed on the search for the small brunette that had changed so many people.

"Are you coming to practice tonight?" She asked, putting her books away in her bag and drawing out her lunch.

"What practice?" Troy replied, his voice monotone.

"The Drama rehearsal? The play is only three days away, remember?" Taylor prodded gently.

"Oh, right, yeah I'm coming." Troy answered after a moment of thought. "I guess we should practice the last few scenes with the understudy…Melissa?"

"No one expects you to be happy about this, Troy, but you know it'll be harder if you drag your heels through it all. If you want it to go by as painless as possible, just make yourself into your character and it'll be over before you know it."

Troy battled with a surge of anger and hurt as he digested Taylor's statement. He knew that she was right, but it was much easier said than done. He sighed and let his head fall into his hands.

"I know, you're right. Sorry. And she's a nice girl…she's just…"

"Not Gabriella." Taylor finished for him. She sighed and put down her sandwich. "Yeah, I know. We all miss her."

"I've been an ass lately." He said suddenly, looking directly at Taylor. "I've been so consumed with Maria and trying to find Gabriella, that I haven't given any attention to you or the gang or Drama. I'm really sorry about that."

Taylor just patted his arm. Troy knew that this was her way of saying 'we forgive you' and he picked at his lunch, feeling a bit better.

Later that afternoon he sat amongst the rest of the gang in the theatre seats, waiting for rehearsal to start. The chatter was subdued and Troy knew that it was because of his presence. Ms Darbus walked into the theatre and clapped her hands loudly, gaining everyone's attention instantly.

"Bolton, Answorth, on the stage now." She commanded, settling down in her theatre seat with her usual thermos of coffee.

Troy obediently hopped up onto the darkly covered stage that was so familiar to him. A blond, tall girl joined him and Troy nodded in greeting.

"Hey Melissa."

"Hi Troy, it's good to see you here."

"Well, Mr Bolton, it's good to see that you have returned from the land of the dead. We've gotten Miss Answorth prepared for almost every scene except the last one which we needed you for."

Melissa smiled at him and Troy managed a tight one back. She was friendly and Troy felt himself relaxing a bit.

_Maybe this won't be so bad…_ He thought to himself.

"As a recap for Troy here, Miss Answorth will remain with her face covered for the entire play as Miss Montez would have normally. Troy, you must practice showing her face in the last scene when you unveil her and see her face for the first time. You've done it with Gabriella, but we have to make certain that there are no fumbles on stage with Ms Answorth here. From the top."

_Flashback_

"_No, Troy, for the last time you're not supposed to put the hood down yet!" Gabriella hissed at him with a laugh dancing in her dark eyes. _

_Troy looked at his script in confusion and then back at Gabriella who had pulled up the translucent material over her face once more. All that he could see was the bottom of her chin and her neck._

"_But aren't we on page eight?" He protested, pointing out the stage action 'uncloak Abreena' that was highlighted on the page._

"_No, Troy, we're on __scene__ eight." Gabriella corrected, giggling in spite of herself._

"_Ohhhhh." Troy said softly, turning back to the correct scene. "I'm confused!"_

"_I can tell." Gabriella sighed, slipping the cloak off over her head with a laugh. "Let's take a break and run lines without the stage actions for a bit okay?"_

_Troy nodded in agreement and they settled on the edge of the stage and another crew of characters took their place to stage block. Teenagers were sprawled out all over the vast theatre in groups, running lines._

"_I just don't understand why you have to keep the hood over your face for the entire play…" Troy protested, looking at Gabriella for clarification._

"_It's just my character. I'm a girl, and apparently in this culture, I am unable to show my face in public, or even to you."_

"_and I'm your husband.." Troy chipped in._

"_Yes."_

"_So why can't I see your face?"_

"_Because that's just how it's written, Troy!" Gabriella cried, exasperated. Troy laughed and poked her in the ribs._

"_You're cute when you're angry."_

_End Of Flashback_

Melissa pulled the hood up and Troy rolled back his shoulders as he got himself into character. Normally, Gabriella gave him hand signals whenever he messed up or got out of character; it was a sign that he needed to fix something. Today, Troy was on his own and he hoped that he would be able to make it work.

Melissa entered and said her lines. Her character was strong and Troy was able to lose himself in the life of the play. The lines flowed with little difficulty from his mouth and when it came time to reveal her face, Troy was proud to say that he didn't forget his lines like he normally did.

"You're beautiful." Troy murmured, and stepped away from her, like his script ordered him to. She backed away from him, and then turned and ran from the stage. The scene was over and Troy was emotionally spent.

This was still going to be a hard play, even more so now without Gabriella. Troy caught Taylor's eyes and she smiled in support. He resumed his seat and rested his head in his hands, flashbacks taking over his memory and bringing tears to his eyes. He didn't want the imperfect memories or the souvenirs, he wanted the real thing; he wanted his Gabriella back.

Gabriella lay under the covers of the bed in her bedroom. She could hear the quiet snores from her father across the hall and she half-considered sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night and finding a taxi somewhere. Gabriella folded her hands together and thought furiously, trying to map out a plan in her head. Today marked the start of the sixth day since she had been here and Gabriella knew that she had gained her father's trust as much as she was going to be able to.

Now, she needed to go home. The urge to be safe with her mom was overwhelming and for a moment Gabriella couldn't breathe with the power of it. She grit her teeth together and blinked furiously until her tears disappeared. A check of her mental calendar told her that the opening night of the school musical was still three days away, and she wanted to be there for it. It was the last time that she would ever be on stage with Troy and her friends and she wasn't happy about missing it.

All of these things swirled around in her head and suddenly, Gabriella sat up, her dark curls falling over her shoulders. She got out of bed and fumbled her way to the bare closet to see if the clothes from when she had gotten here were still there. They were, and an idea formed in her head faster than she could believe it.

Gabriella had been waiting patiently for six long days for something to happen, but she knew that nothing was going to happen unless she did it herself. Gabriella didn't doubt that her mother was trying everything she could to find her, but her father was too sneaky for them. The realization made her feel more confident and she smiled.

_Here I come, world._ She thought, and started to get ready for the day to come with a new-found eagerness.

**AN: So, I'm getting really close to the good part! I hope that you're all enjoying the story enough to last through a few more chapters! Thanks so much for your support! R&R please, I love hearing your comments!**


	9. Day Seven: Superman

Day Seven: Superman

It was just past eleven in the morning, but Gabriella had been up for hours, going over every inch of her plan, picking out flaws and smoothing out solutions to any problem that came up. She knew that her plan was risky and she knew that if it failed, her father would never let her out of his sight again, but she had to try.

She stood at the window now, arms wrapped around herself as she tried to run through the lines of her script in her head. She hadn't thought about it at all for the past week, and as a result, the lines came out rusty and out of order. Frustrated with herself for letting herself get so distant, Gabriella focussed more intensely on the lines and refused to let herself think about anything else other than her lines. Unfortunately though, her life soon seeped its way into her mind against her will.

Rehearsing her lines made her think of the play, and the play made her think of Troy. Memories of them practicing washed over her and Gabriella tried to force them away, knowing that the more she thought about it, the easier it was for her to get caught in her plan. She couldn't let any emotion get in the way of her idea or it would fail before it had really even started.

A stir from across the hall caused her to scuttle back into bed, trying to ask as if she had been asleep this whole time. There was a quiet knock on her bedroom door and then it opened.

Gabriella rolled towards the sound and blinked slowly.

"Good morning, Dad." She murmured, I'll be in the kitchen in a bit, okay? I need to freshen up a bit."

"Sure thing, sweetheart, take your time." He replied with a laugh, and closed the door again.

As soon as Gabriella heard him step away from her door, she sat up and tip-toed out of bed again. She heard the TV flick on, heard him groan as he sat down on the couch, and knew that she was safe.

She leapt into action, grabbing the spare change of clothes from the closet and getting her concoction ingredients from where she had hid them under her mattress. She hummed to herself as she mixed up the formula to make sure that if her dad were to walk by, it would sound like she was just focussing on getting ready for the day.

She whisked the hair dye and the cream together, wrinkling her nose at the disgusting scent that arose from it. She hoped that it wouldn't be this strong when she acted out her plan, otherwise it might cave in before she even realized it.

With one last run through of the plan, Gabriella took a deep breath, sent up a quick prayer, and began to get ready. It was show time.

Troy was a mess. He sat in his bedroom with his head in his hands, trying to keep himself together. So far, he had been able to distract himself from the fact that Gabriella could be seriously injured, but now - the day before opening night for their school play, he found his disguise falling to pieces.

Sobs shook his frame and he sobbed silently into his fingers, trying to keep his upsets as quiet as possible so to not wake attract attention from his parents, especially his father, but unable to contain his pain anymore, he began to whimper in spite of himself and fell back onto the bed to stuff the blanket in his mouth.

He heard footsteps approaching his room and he sniffed, trying to disguise his actions, but he knew that it was no good. The door to his bedroom flew open and he heard his father try to get him to join him outside for a game of basketball. Troy just stayed still on his mattress, praying his father would leave him alone. The older man had never been good at comforting his son and Troy knew that the past week had been hard on his parents, seeing him so upset.

"Troy? What's-"

He came around to face Troy and stopped mid-sentence. He took one look at Troy's heartbroken expression and strode from the room, his face pale. A minute later, his mother entered and gently closed the door behind her, settling down on the side of Troy's bed. She put a hand on his knee and something further broke in Troy.

He sat up and leaned against her, crying even harder at the concerned expression on her face. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him harder than she had when he was little, trying to give him some comfort. Troy cried and cried, tears soaking the neckline of his shirt and his mother's shoulder, but she didn't react to it, only stroked his hair and back.

Finally, after his final tears had rolled down his cheeks and whimpers had been uttered, he sniffed a few times and lifted his head from his mother's shoulder. She had tears in her eyes as she pressed her hand to his cheek and Troy gazed sadly at her, not trusting himself to speak just yet.

"Troy…" His mother's voice wavered and she paused before continuing. "Troy, what you've come through this past week…is amazing. You haven't missed a day of school, you've been practicing your lines for the play non-stop, and you've been with Maria for every waking second that she needed you; you need to understand how proud of you we all are."

When he nodded, she continued.

"What I need you to do now, is take a moment for yourself. I know that you're going through a hard time with Gabriella being missing, but there's nothing more that you can do now to find her; you've answering all the questions and you've given all of the facts, you just have to wait now. I know that's the hardest part, but it's what you have to do."

"I don't know if I can do that, Mom." Troy choked out, his voice broken and wheezy.

"I _know_ that you can, son. You're the strongest person that I know and if you don't know if you can, then think about what Gabriella would want you to do. Would she want you to sit her by yourself wallowing until she got home? Or would she want you to do that best that you can, take time for yourself, and thrive as best you can until she gets back?"

Troy winced at her name but understood where she was coming from. He took a deep breath and nodded.

"I know what…what she would want me to do, but I don't know if I can do that."

"Do you think that she could do it?"

"What?"

"Do you think Gabriella would be able to stay strong if the places were reversed? Do you think she's being strong now?"

"Yes." Troy said after some hesitation. "She's superwoman, she can get through anything."

"So you're going to have to be super_man_. You need to be strong for her when she gets back, she's going to need you then, Troy. Be her superman."

She kissed his brow and then left him to his thoughts, assuring him that he would be okay. He sat there for another minute and then sighed shakily, getting up and jogging out to meet his father on the basketball court.

Gabriella grabbed the screwdriver from its hiding place with her other materials and began to unscrew the bed posts from the frame. After some work, she had all four undone mostly and she warped the metal in the screws so that it would look as if they had all broken on their own. She hid two of them knowing that he wouldn't believe it if all four of them 'mysteriously' broke at the same time. Then she changed into the clothes from the closet, draped her dress on the floor and began to stuff it with the pillows from her bed. When it looked realistic enough for her liking, she positioned it under the rickety bed.

With shaking fingers, she stirred the hair dye and cream one more time before spilling a bit of it on her wrist. It glistened realistically like blood and she sighed in relief. Lifting it to her nose, she was realized with relief that the smell had gone down quite a bit. Glancing at her watch, she sat it was just before noon - perfect.

Moving all of the contents of her purse into the pockets of her stolen jeans, she positioned it so that it was sticking out at an angle that wouldn't be squished entirely by the bed and then quickly scuttled behind the bed, getting her controls in her hands. The time had come, and she took a deep breath before lifting the mattress and letting it slam to the ground, the legs breaking just the way she had planned. It made an alarming clang and at that same moment, she let out a blood-curdling scream.

She heard her father's answering yell and then pounding feet running towards her. He burst through the door and Gabriella thought she heard him recoil, but she wasn't sure.

"GABRIELLA! Are you okay?"

She felt the bed start to move and she shrieked again.

"No! No, don't move it!" She cried, her heart pounding in adrenalin as her plan ran into a hitch, she couldn't believe that she hadn't thought about the bed moving! "I learned in Biology that if you move something while it's in someone's body, it could make the wound worse. Don't make it worse, Dad, please!"

It was accurate but she didn't know if it would work. To prove her point, when the bed moved again, she released some of the 'blood' from her stores and waited with bated breath while she waited for his reaction.

"Oh my God, Gabriella, you're really bleeding. What happened?"

Gabriella moaned.

"I'm bleeding? I really don't like blood, dad." This was a lie, blood didn't bother her. "I didn't do it on purpose, I swear! I was just looking for my purse because I think it fell under the bed, and I went to go and get it, but when I was getting up again, I hit my bed and it just collapsed."

"I know you didn't do it on purpose, sweetheart, can you move?"

She forced out a fake sob from where she hid behind the headboard.

"No. Dad, it hurts a lot. I'm really scared."

She released more blood. He saw and she heard him swear.

"Okay, Gabriella, I'm going to go and get a nurse from the hospital down the road, will you be okay?"

"Why can't you just call 9-1-1, Dad?" She replied, knowing full well the reason.

"They don't have 9-1-1 here, sweetie, it's too small of a town. It's just a few blocks away and I'll be right back okay?"

"Dad, I'm scared." Gabriella wailed, whimpering.

"You're going to be fine, just don't move okay?"

She heard him digging around.

"DAMN IT, where are my keys?"

She jerked the dress to make it look as if she had moved, released what was left of the blood and wiggled the bed a bit.

"Ow! Ow, ow, ow, oh my God…" She feigned. "Dad, it's worse! Just run, please, please."

"I'll be right back, no moving, Gabriella! And try to stay conscious."

She heard him run out, the door slam, and his feet thudding down the driveway. She forced herself to wait for an entire minute, and then cautiously snuck to the window. He was nowhere in sight, and she charged out of the bedroom and out of the house.

Giddy with delight at a perfect execution of the plan, Gabriella darted to the hiding spot where she had hid the keys earlier that morning when her father was still asleep, and got into the car. It took precious minutes to figure out the controls, but at last Gabriella wrenched it onto the road and began to speed towards the highway, a mental image in her head of the map that she had seen at the aquarium.

She knew that she didn't have much time before her father found out what had really happened, and her heart thudding painfully, she picked her way through traffic, cursing as she saw the needle for gas hovering around 'E'. She reluctantly pulled into the gas station that she had her father had visited when she had gotten there first and thrust the gas handle into the car, pushing buttons and sending continuous prayers for everything to work out.

Now that she had actually escaped, she wasn't so sure that everything was going to work out like she had planned it, and her knees became weak in fear. The gas filled the car and she paid for it with her bank card before getting back into the car. She turned the key but nothing happened. She did it again, and still nothing. Again. Nothing.

Sobbing with fear, Gabriella got out of the car and began to run blindly, knowing that she was in immense danger now. She had depended on the car for her transportation and hadn't even given a moment's thought to the car's mechanical condition.

She raced to a corner, and shoved a quarter into pay phone, dialling '0'. The operator picked up, and Gabriella forced herself to calm her voice down. She asked for the Taxi company's number and when she got through to them, she ask for a taxi. It took all of her strength not to call Troy or her mother, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to deal with them right now. She waited anxiously at the street corner for exactly four minutes, and Gabriella climbed into the back of the yellow car, giving the address to East High to the driver. He looked at her in surprise but she just nodded and he pulled out with a sigh.

As Gabriella watched the numbers go up on the pay screen, she forced herself to relax as they pulled out on the highway and went over what had just happened. In her calculations, she had hoped to get back to Albuquerque in the late afternoon, have a happy reunion and then go and do the play with Troy, but she knew now that it was going to be impossible. She gave directions for the driver to take the scenic route, that she wanted to see everything possible. She knew that she might not make it to her home until the next day because of the zig-zag route that she was going to have to take, but she knew that it was one of the only ways to throw off her father if he figured out what had happened.

As they got farther and farther away from her prison, Gabriella felt herself relaxing bit by bit and she took a deep breath. She had escaped.

**AN: What did you think? Wasn't it not AWESOME? I think I did a pretty good job, myself, but that's just me…haha. I think that Gabriella's plan was awesome and if anyone is confused about what her plan WAS, don't worry, I'll explain it more in the chapters to come. Stay tuned to see what happens! R&R please! Thanks for reading!**


	10. Day Eight: Fireworks

Day Eight: Fireworks

Troy sat restlessly in his dressing room, staring at his reflection in the mirror. The play was just about to start and Troy knew that he should be in the wings of the stage, getting ready to go on, but something inside of him just wasn't ready to go out and face the crowd yet.

Nerves had always been present when he was performing, he had done so little of it that it was a struggle for him to get ready before the recital, but today he was even more so because his reason and desire for performing wasn't going to be beside him on stage or cheering him on from the audience. Troy knew that performing his part in the play was the right thing to do, but he felt like he was cheating Gabriella, taking precious time to act onstage when she could be hurt or even dead.

Troy winced and shook his head to clear it of all negative thoughts about her. She had always told him to only think positive when getting ready to go on stage and he forced her words to the front of his mind, making it seem as if she really were here.

_I might not want to do this, but I can do it for her._ Troy thought, determination beginning to enter his mind at the thought of it. _I'll perform like she's going to be the one performing with me._

And with those thoughts repeating in his mind, Troy strode out of the dressing room and got into place.

The drive had taken longer then Gabriella had accounted for, and she knew that it was going to be impossible to get home in time for the play. For some reason, making the opening performance had been glued in her mind ever since she had been kidnapped from her home, and she had made that her goal when she had planned to escape.

The fascination didn't strike her as odd, but she did notice that it was on her mind a lot. During the long, silent drive, she had rehearsed the entire play over and over in her mind, grateful when the remainder of her many lines popped into her head as she made her way through the long play. The motions that she had learned to go with the lines came back too and as the taxi pulled off the highway on the exit ramp for Albuquerque, Gabriella was ready to go.

As the driver wove through the streets, Gabriella took a peek at the bill that she owed him and gulped; it was enormous. Still, he had gotten her home safely and even took her the way she had asked; through the back roads - she owed him the money fair and square.

The night had crept up on them on the journey and Gabriella had slept in fits, waking with a jump every time the radio crackled, asking the driver how far in the journey he was. Her heart had been pounding for majority of the drive, and every time they passed a car, she had an overwhelming certainty that it was her father, here to take her back to his home and surely never let her out of his sight ever again. Luckily, it never was and Gabriella was as anxious as ever to be home safe with her mom and Troy.

The next day had passed quickly and now, as the cab pulled onto the street that her school was located on, she knew that she had missed the show. There were still many cars in the parking lot, however, and she hoped that it wouldn't be pure chaos in there.

The car stopped along the curb and Gabriella thanked him profusely, giving him a rather large tip without a second thought about it. He smiled in thanks and then drove off, leaving her to enter the school on her own. The lobby was quiet and she made her way through the familiar hallways with her heart thudding in her chest.

Now that she was here, she realized that just how long she had been gone, and she knew that everyone was going to be freaking out over her arrival. She snuck along the hallway leading to the theatre and paused outside of it, surprised as she heard voices coming from within - was the play still going? She slipped around the corner and backstage, freezing on the spot as she came face to face with a very flustered looking Ms Darbus.

Gabriella was expecting shrieks of excitement and lectures on how hard it had been for her to re-balance the show, but Ms Darbus hardly batted an eye, and instead, waved over Taylor from where she had been looking over a list of supplies.

"No hysterics, Miss McKessie, get her dressed and on stage. Welcome back, Miss Montez, you're just in time for the last scene. Break a leg."

Taylor just stood gaping at Gabriella and Gabriella tried to form a sentence, but Ms Darbus shoved the two of them towards a dressing room.

"Go! Get her ready, Taylor! No chatting, I want this to go flawlessly! I'll tell Melissa and where's Troy? Oh, he's already on stage - oh well, he'll find out soon enough."

She whirled around and faced the rest of the gathering crew.

"Cell phones in my hand RIGHT NOW! She's here and I don't want anyone calling the cops until final curtain!"

Immediately, cell phones were given up and people began to scuttle around, doing as she asked. Gabriella was rushed off to a dressing room by a still shocked Taylor and forced into her costume. They were so rushed that they didn't even have a chance to talk, and not even five minutes later, Gabriella was shoved into the right wings of the stage, awaiting her cue from Troy.

He was standing in the middle of the stage, delivering his lines flawlessly and with a smile on his face. Gabriella watched him with tears in her eyes, making certain that the veil covering her face was in place. She couldn't even wrap her mind around what was happening yet, all she knew was that Troy was doing perfect without her.

She tried to weasel her way off of the stage, but Ms Darbus just pushed her right back into place again.

"He doesn't know I'm here, he's going to be expecting Melissa under that veil. And my mom's in the audience, this isn't going to work - I've been-"

"That's your cue, Montez. Just wing it!"

Ms Darbus shoved her onto stage and Gabriella steeled herself for the last scene, her nerves shooting up through her as Troy turned and looked at her. Mechanically, Gabriella walked forward, towards him, grateful that her role was silent for majority of the play.

He spoke his lines, his eyes glazed over. Gabriella was able to see now that his heart was not in the performance. She reached her spot on the stage and stood there with shaking knees, her eyes glued to the face that she had missed so much. He approached her now and Gabriella tried to pull her mind together as he reached up, took ahold of the veil, and pulled it down off of her face.

**AN: I bet you love me a lot don't you? I gave you all a cliffhanger just because I thought you would enjoy it ;) Haha, please don't kill me! Anyways, this is going to be the last chapter that I get up before Christmas, so MERRY CHRISTMAS! And I'll see you all in the new year, okay? Thanks for reading and please R&R it makes me smile :)**


	11. The Eighth Night: Asylum

**AN: Yeah, yeah, I know; I suck. I am SOOOO sorry for keeping you all in suspense for so long but I worked a LOT on this chapter to make sure that it was perfect - or as close as I could get. This is the most important chapter and I wanted to make sure that I didn't let you all down. Without further ado, here you go! Enjoy!**

The Eighth Night: Asylum

For a moment, everything seemed to stop. In the milliseconds that it took for Troy to realize just whose nervous, anxious face that he was looking at, Gabriella was able to understand just how much chaos there was going to be after the show. She heard the collective gasp from the audience, saw a half rising figure from the sea of blackness - her mother she assumed, and she felt herself trembling harder. She had no idea what to do, so she just stood there in the blinding spotlight, lingering on the edge of panic.

Troy's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. He started to form a panicked sentence, but an urgent shake of Gabriella's head made him stop. Tears were in her dark eyes and she stared at him as he tried to reign his own emotions and desires, forcing himself back in character. Gabriella clenched her hands together and tried to help him, stepping back a few paces to make it easier.

With a great deal of difficulty, Troy dragged his gaze away from her and after a gulp of air, said his line with a broken voice. He looked back at her and Gabriella took a few steps forward, toward the audience and looked out at the dark space. She stood there silently, as was her role, and began to look around the audience while Troy spoke again, the words of his longest speech in the play rolling off his tongue effortlessly and mechanically. Gabriella knew that Ms. Darbus would be angry at his deliverance, but Gabriella was just relieved that they were almost done.

Gabriella didn't dare try to find a familiar face in the audience, knowing that if she did, she'd lose her nerve. It was already taking everything that she had not to break down sobbing and whimpering for her mother.

Troy fell silent and she turned towards him again, staring off a little to the right of him, not trusting herself to look into his face again. Troy didn't say anything and Gabriella snuck a glance at him, understanding the familiar confused expression taking over his face. He couldn't remember his line.

Gabriella immediately closed her eyes and pictured the script in her head, flipping through the imaginary pages until she got to the right scene. She opened her eyes again, caught his eye and mouthed the words to him. Troy paused for a moment longer and then a spark of recognition flickered in his eyes.

He said the line that Gabriella had been thinking of and then Gabriella turned away from him, walking quietly off of the right wing of the stage, as she was supposed to. She could feel Troy's eyes on her and once she was beyond the curtain, she turned to face him, tears in her eyes again as she read the desperation in his expression. She crossed her arms over her chest, shook her hair back and smiled sadly at him, holding a hand, palm forward, out to him; _Stay_.

Troy ducked his head and turned to face the audience again, obeying her silent command without complaint. Pride swelling in her chest at how well he was doing considering the circumstances, Gabriella smiled again, turned around, and came face to face with her father.

Troy glumly watched his girlfriend hurry off of the stage, forcing himself to stay where he was and not run after her like he wanted to. She turned to watch him and, finding him still staring at her with a forlorn expression, smiled and held up a hand that he understood meant 'stay'. With a sigh, he turned towards the audience again and began to deliver his last line, knowing that he was doing a terrible job, but not caring enough to voice it any better. All he wanted to do was get off stage and throw question after question at Gabriella. His mind was still reeling after her sudden appearance and as a result, his brain seemed to be in some kind of funk, making it hard to focus on anything.

Which was why it didn't register as strange to him when he glanced to his right three quarters through his monologue and saw Gabriella shying away from a man that was obviously trying to get her to come with him. He simply turned back to the audience, a bell ringing in his memory, and finished his speech. He bowed, as he was supposed to, and only when the audience burst into applause, did he understand what he had just seen.

He snapped his head in that direction again and felt his heart jump into his throat as he saw Gabriella wrestling to free her arm from this man's grip, her eyes fearful and searching the theatre for anyone that could help. Taylor was busy yelling at the stage crew and Darbus was hissing at Troy, waving him towards her from where she stood in the left wing. He ignored her and dashed off the way Gabriella had gone, his protective instinct taking over.

Anger gave everything a red tint and Troy screeched to a halt beside Gabriella, wrenching the man's hand off of her arm with a snarl of fury. He slid between them and glared daggers at the older man until he backed up a step in uncertainty.

"Get your hands off her." Troy hissed.

The man just stared at him with a half smile.

"Hello mystery boy." He replied calmly.

Troy grit his teeth together and, keeping his eyes on the threat in front of him, turned his head to the left and spoke to Gabriella.

"Are you okay?"

She appeared beside him, fear still in her expression, and said nothing, causing Troy's heart rate to spike. She was shifting from foot to foot and Troy knew that she was terrified. All that he wanted to do right now was take her in his arms and hug her until she forgot every single event of the past eight days, but he forced himself to focus only on her father knowing without a doubt that as soon as he took his eyes off of him, he would strike.

"You need to leave." She said instead, directing her comment at her father who switched his calm gaze from Troy to her.

"I can do no such thing. Without you, that is. We're not finished what we started, my dear."

Out of the corner of his eye, Troy saw Gabriella shiver and inch away from her father who didn't seem the least bit concerned that his own _daughter_ wanted to be as far away from him as possible. Troy's fury escalated higher and he emitted a low growl.

"She is not going _anywhere_ with you - can't you see that she wants you gone? Some father you are, your own kid wants nothing to do with you." He spat.

That comment snapped the patience of the older man and his gaze rolled back to Troy with an expression that even Troy found daunting, not that he would ever admit it.

"She tricked me into thinking she was hurt. She played me and I want her _back._ She is my daughter and I have every right to spend some time with her!"

Gabriella flinched as he pointed to her and she stepped back a few more paces. She was out of Troy's line of sight now but he refused to turn and look at her now, realizing instinctively that they were both in a lot of danger at the moment.

"The police will be here soon." Troy replied evenly. "You're going to be put behind bars for what you did."

The man lunged for Gabriella with a loud roar and Gabriella shrieked, darting into the stage wing, successfully gaining the attention of Ms Darbus and the rest of the stage crew. Troy threw him back with surprising strength and yelled over his shoulder to her.

"Run, Brie."

He heard her dash off, her quiet sobs of terror breaking his heart. He took a menacing step towards the fuming man in front of him, irate. A clearly startled and curious Ms Darbus was whispering something to a petrified looking Taylor and bustling towards him at speed in which Troy thought was impossible. He whispered one final message to the other man.

"Just because you have a daughter does _not_ mean that you are a father_. Stay away _from her and Maria. You've done enough damage."

Ms Darbus appeared then, making it impossible for him to reply. She regarded him coldly and then turned to Troy.

"Please make sure that Miss Montez is okay, the police are on their way."

When Troy didn't move, she put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a gentle nudge, her face full of unusual empathy.

"Go, Troy."

Troy swallowed a refusal and shuffled off out of the theatre, ignoring the whispering and the comments from the other actors - Gabriella was his only concern now.

Gabriella couldn't breathe. Her chest felt like it was constricted as she huddled in her hiding spot, and Gabriella didn't know how to stop it. Her heart was hammering in her chest and she was shaking uncontrollably, but still she remained where she was, insistent in following out Troy's order.

The shawl from her costume had slid off of one of her shoulders and she hastily yanked it up again, freezing mid-motion as she heard footsteps pounding up the wooden steps to her hiding spot.

Gabriella's heart stopped and couldn't bear to peek around at who was coming to get her; she knew it was her father. As much as she had hoped that Troy would be able to keep her father in check, Gabriella knew that the older man would be stronger than Troy.

A tear rolled down Gabriella's cheek and she squeezed her eyes shut as she heard the footsteps approaching, no longer able to be brave enough to face the situation with even the worst acting ability or the faintest bit of courage. She waited with her breath caught in her chest to hear the degrading, droning voice of her father announcing the ultimatum.

She was so focussed on the certainty of hearing his voice that it shocked her when she heard another one. A voice that was melodic and laced with concern. A voice that she had been dreaming about hearing for the past eight days. A voice that she couldn't live without hearing.

"Brie?"

Gabriella opened her eyes slowly, trying to decide whether the sight that she saw before her was really happening or if it was just a figment of her imagination. Troy stood in front of her, staring down at her with an expression twisted into a mask of worry and heartbreak. He held out a hand and after a second of hesitation, she took it and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

Shock was still thrumming its way through both of their systems and Troy, although keeping hold of her hand, made no other move towards her, drinking up the image of her standing before him.

"Where is h-he?" Gabriella croaked after a moment.

"Darbus got to him." Troy said simply. He cracked a smile. "You should have seen her move."

Gabriella didn't smile, but the corners of her lips twitched. Troy could see the gears working in her mind and he waited patiently for her to catch up and form whatever thoughts she was thinking.

He was unprepared for the sudden waterfall of tears that began to flow down her face all of a sudden. He reached out and tried to wipe them away, but they kept coming and soon he knew it was useless. He wanted to hold her more than anything, but knew that she wasn't ready for it, she needed time. And so Troy watched helplessly until she spoke up in shuddering tones.

"Troy…Troy…I need my m-mom. I really…just…need my mom."

Without a second's hesitation, he nodded and began to lead her down back to the theatre without another word. She followed silently and their steps were the only sounds as they travelled slowly down the corridors of East High.

There was a ruckus down the hall from them and Gabriella stopped walking, tugging on Troy's hand. Troy followed her gaze and soon saw why she seemed so terrified.

Her father was being led out by four police officers and fighting every single step of the way. Quite a crowd was following him and Troy saw the flashes going off on all of the cameras as spectators took countless photos.

All of a sudden Gabriella wasn't beside him anymore, she was running down the hallway, her shoes pounding on the tiles and echoing throughout the hallway.

"Mom!" She shrieked. "Mom!"

Troy stayed where he was as he saw Maria turn towards them, see and hear her daughter and then catch Gabriella in her arms, the two of them wailing together, clutching each other in a grip that made Troy smile. The sight warmed his heart and the realization of the nights events sunk in; she was home.

**AN: Alright, so again, I apologize for keeping you all waiting so long, but I really hope that this chapter was worth the wait. There is still a bit more on the way so stay tuned and thanks so much for reading. Reviews, anyone? **


	12. Home

Home

Gabriella awoke with a start, her heart thudding her chest as she tried to figure out where she was. Darkness enveloped her completely and for a moment, she couldn't find anything that was familiar to her at all. Panic threatened to overwhelm her, but Gabriella forced herself to sit up and look around before she gave up on trying to figure everything out.

Her eyes became used to the lack of light and with a sigh of relief, Gabriella was able to recognize the furniture of her mother's bedroom. Heart still thudding, Gabriella fell back into the soft blankets and closed her eyes again. The movement woke her mother beside her and Gabriella whispered an apology, turning so that they were facing each other.

"Are you alright?" Maria murmured, blinking sleepily. "Did you have a bad dream?"

Gabriella yawned and shook her head.

"I just forgot for a moment. I thought that I was still back…there."

Maria propped her head up on her elbow and studied Gabriella's face anxiously, her expression worried and helpless.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Gabriella hesitated before answering.

"There's not really anything to talk about, Mom. I mean, he didn't hurt me or anything, but it was horrible at the same time. I had to act like I didn't hate him and I had to pretend that I wasn't scared of him all of the time. I wanted to contact you but he took my phone and I couldn't get hold of you or Troy. He wasn't going to let me leave."

"How did you get away?" Maria asked, half fearing the answer.

"He's not exactly the smartest person in the world." Gabriella replied, laughing a bit. "I tricked him into thinking that I was trapped under the bed when it collapsed, but really I was hiding behind the bed. And when he went to get help, I snuck away. At first, I tried to use his car, but it randomly stopped working at the gas station and so I had to take a taxi instead."

They were both silent for a minute and Gabriella moved closer to her mother, shuddering a bit as she recalled the long stretch of days that she had been trapped.

"There's something that doesn't fit in though." Gabriella whispered. "The night that he came and got me…I woke up in his car the next morning. The last thing that I remember before being in the car is talking with Troy on the porch and then going inside. He was hiding in the living room, I remember that, but then it's just all blank. How did he get me to come with him?"

"It's possible that he might have sedated you somehow." Maria replied, a tremor going through her as she thought about all of the possibilities. "Anyhow, it doesn't matter now, Ella, because you're safe."

Gabriella nodded with a smile.

"I was wondering if it'd be okay if I didn't go to school tomorrow." She inquired quietly, rolling onto her back.

"That's fine, honey, I had no intention of letting you go anyhow. You need some time to get back into the swing of things. Tomorrow's Friday so you won't be missing anything much."

"Thanks mom. I might go into school at lunch time, though so that I can get some of the work that I missed and work on it over the weekend."

Maria laughed.

"Alright, but don't work too hard, you need a break Gabriella."

Gabriella laughed too and then with another yawn, they both went back to sleep, curled up next to each other in perfect comfort.

The next day, Gabriella picked out her clothes with a nervous energy, going through four possible outfits before finding one that suited her mood. She took a long shower and then brushed her soft curls until they were gleaming in the sunlight streaming through her bedroom window. With a glance at the clock, Gabriella headed down the stairs and smiled in greeting at her mother who was preparing a lunch for the two of them.

Gabriella started cutting up tomatoes for a salad and the two of them worked side by side, a comfortable silence stretched between them. Every once in a while, Gabriella would pause in her movements, take a look at her surroundings, smile, and then continue her work making Maria smile too at the content mood of her daughter.

Truth be told, Maria was still very much afraid for Gabriella, knowing that she was probably still very much in torment about the eight days that she ad been with her father, and Maria wanted more than anything for Gabriella to be able to feel safe again.

_Just give her time._ Her mind reasoned as Maria snuck a glance at her daughter who was setting the table and humming quietly to herself. _It's going to take longer than a few days for her to forget about everything that's happened._

"Mom? Are you alright?" Gabriella inquired, breaking into her mother's thoughts.

"I'm fine, honey, just thinking is all."

Gabriella reached over and silently took the bowl of salad from her mother's grip, carrying over to the table and then returning to her mother to hug her tightly.

"I'm alright, mom, stop worrying." She said gently, with a quiet chuckle. "I'd tell if you if I wasn't."

"If you say so." Maria sighed, the two of them sitting down to the kitchen table to eat their lunch a few moments later.

After they had finished and cleaned up, Gabriella grabbed her sweater and with a quick comment to her mother, got into their car and drove off to East High. The drive wasn't nearly long enough and as Gabriella pulled into the busy parking lot, she began to rethink her decision of the night before.

Stubbornly, Gabriella squeezed into a parking space and began to walk towards the front doors of the school, conscious of the stares and whispers that were headed in her direction as she passed students that were leaving for lunch time. She tried to smile at them, but they carefully evaded her glance and Gabriella continued on her way, her confidence level sinking lower and lower with every step that she took.

Beginning to feel a little panicky, Gabriella was just about to turn around and head back to her parking space and forget the whole thing when she saw a familiar face bobbing along in the crowd. Gabriella grabbed at her.

"Kelsei!"

The slender girl turned towards her with a smile and then fought her way through a sea of bodies to get to her.

"Gabriella! What are you doing here?" She asked when they finally reached each other.

"I just came to get some work that I missed." Gabriella explained shyly, feeling a bit awkward.

She hadn't seen any of her friends for any longer than a minute after the show, so exhausted from all of the excitement of the evening that she had begged her mother to take her home. Kelsei was obviously a little uncertain how to act around her and Gabriella nervously glanced around them, hating all of the eyes.

"Taylor's already done that for you, she was going to drop it all off to you after school today. She's at her locker now if you'd like to catch her. We're all headed towards the cafeteria."

"Thanks, Kels!" Gabriella said, patting her friend on the shoulder before heading off into the crowd once more to get to Taylor's locker. Taylor, too, seemed shocked at Gabriella's appearance in the hallway.

"Gabriella! You are not supposed to be here! Get back home this instant!" She cried, but then hugged her friendly tightly. "You need a vacation, girl!"

Again, a strange shyness slipped over Gabriella and she couldn't form a sentence.

"I-I-I was…I just-."

Taylor hugged her again and then closed her locker and began to lead her towards the cafeteria, ignoring Gabriella's whimpers of protest.

"Don't worry, we won't let anyone bug you. Everyone's been dying to call you but I haven't let them - you need some down time."

Gabriella giggled.

"I'm dreading explaining everything to everyone, they're going to have so many questions." She shared.

"So don't explain anything to them, they'll survive. Take this at your own pace, Gabi."

"But you're all my friends, how can I keep something like this from your guys?"

"Because it's your business, not ours. I'll admit, I'm curious and a bit scared to hear everything, but I can wait. Just relax okay? No one is our crew is going to harass you."

Gabriella nodded and breathed a little easier, relaxing a bit as she realized that Taylor was right. Taylor threaded their arms together and then confidently led the way into the loud cafeteria, weaving through crowds of gawking teenagers and around tables. Gabriella was beginning to think that maybe it wouldn't be as bad as she thought until she heard a shout of discovery.

"!" **(AN: Can anyone guess who it is?)**

All conversation stopped and heads swivelled in their direction as everyone stared at her, taking in her presence. Taylor uttered a nervous laugh and nudged Gabriella playfully in the ribs, who was staring in horror at the speaker, her heart thudding.

"Sorry, hon, I forgot about Chad." Taylor expressed sheepishly. "I'll take care of him later."

"GGGGGAAAABBBBIIIII, over here!" Chad yelled again, waving his arms and oblivious to Gabriella's discomfort.

The two of them slowly began to walk again, Taylor glaring daggers at her boyfriend, and slowly the conversation began to pick up again as everyone went back to their meals. When they had almost reached their table everyone sitting there got up to meet them, asking quietly how she was and apologizing for Chad's outburst.

Gabriella smiled and hugged everyone that came up to her, laughing as Chad apologized over and over with red cheeks, finally understanding what he had done. Troy, she noticed, had hung back and now, having assured everyone that she was okay, she walked over to him and gave him a hug too, burying her face in his chest.

He stroked her hair and they stood there for a few moments, ignoring the world around them. Troy kissed the top of her head and Gabriella glanced up at him, a small smile on her lips.

"Hi Brie. Are you feeling better?" He whispered.

"Yes, much better." She replied.

Troy smiled at her and then the two of them walked over to the table and sat down beside everyone else who had already taken their seats again. They talked quietly amongst themselves and Gabriella joined in the conversation easily, listening to all of the newest gossip and laughing at the funny stories that had happened in various classes.

All too soon the bell rang and everyone bid Gabriella goodbye, promising to drop by and see her over the weekend and Troy walked Gabriella back to her car despite her protests.

"You're going to be late!" Gabriella tried for the fifth time as they reached where she had parked.

Troy just smiled and lifted her off her feet in another hug, spinning the two of them around. Gabriella laughed and then, when her feet touched the ground once more, she kissed him gently, still wrapped in his embrace.

"What are you doing after school?" She asked, once she had pulled away.

"I was going to come over to see you." He replied, "is that okay?"

"Yes, it sounds perfect. I was hoping that you'd come over." She admitted, giggling a bit.

"Oh, and by the way, the answer is yes."

"The answer to what?" Gabriella asked, her mind a bit fuzzy.

"The night that you went missing, you asked me if I would do it again if I had the chance." Troy reminded her.

"_I remember when you started to get into the song, and I kept backing away from you because you were coming towards me…"_

_She giggled._

"_So much has changed since then."_

"_Yeah it has…" Troy agreed, stroking her hair absentmindedly._

"_Would you do it again if you had the chance to?" She whispered._

_Troy caught her gaze and was puzzled by the pleading expression on it. She blushed and pressed her cheek to his chest._

"And I never got the chance to answer you, so I'm telling you that yes, I would definitely do it all over again." Troy finished.

"You're sweet, Wildcat." Was all that she replied, hugging him close.

Troy smiled and then kissed her again, the bell interrupting them. Gabriella hit him lightly on the chest and pointed towards the school.

"Get to class, Mister." She ordered. Troy sighed and pouted at her until she kissed him one last time and then gently pushed him away from her and towards the school. "Go!"

Troy winked at her and then waited until she had gotten into the car before he obeyed her. When he reached the front door of the school, Troy watched the taillights of her car disappear around a turn and he smiled, staying there for a moment as his body filled with happiness. They had all gone through the hardest week of their lives and it was nice to realize that, even with the events happening as they had, if they had the chance, they'd do it all over again.

**AN: Alright, so I know that it's not a great ending, but there wasn't really another way to end it! I hope that everyone understood what Gabriella's plan was and if anyone's confused, feel free to PM me about it! FYI, I already have a plan for my next fanfic so keep an eye out for a new title! Thank you guys so much for reading this story and feel free to let me know what you thought of the ending as well as the entire story as a whole. You all rock!**


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